Beijing Frames Financial Strength as Core to Chinese Modernization in State-Backed Policy Statement

On November 3, 2026, a piece from en.qstheory.cn, the English-language site of the Communist Party journal Qiushi, appeared on PR Newswire's UK service, datelined Beijing. It is a policy statement, not a news report in the independent sense. It sets out how President Xi Jinping wants China to become what the text calls a nation strong in finance.

The article opens with a line it attributes to Xi: finance is a matter of great national importance and bears directly on the overall drive for Chinese modernization. From there it argues that China should convert the advantages of its composite national strength into powerful financial capacity, and that this capacity would in turn support modernization.

The core of the piece is a list of six elements a financially strong country must have: a strong currency, a strong central bank, strong financial institutions, strong international financial centers, strong financial supervision, and a robust contingent of competent financial personnel. The text gives each a role. Currency is described as a country's credit and the central pillar and anchor of value. The central bank is called the key sluice gate for money supply and the linchpin of a soundly operating system. Institutions and financial centers are the vehicles and platforms for financial resources, and their strength determines the system's efficiency and dynamism. Supervision and personnel are described as the guarantees and professional support that keep the system working.

On top of those elements, the article attributes to Xi a set of basic requirements: the capability for effective monetary policy regulation and macro-prudential regulation, the ability to prevent and defuse systemic risks promptly and effectively, and a sound financial legal system. It also describes his strategic vision for the country: global reserve currency status, the ability to attract global investors and exert influence over international pricing systems, and a significant voice and influence in shaping international financial rules.

The piece then turns to the path China has followed since the 18th National Congress in 2012. It says the CPC Central Committee has explored the laws governing financial development in the new era and led the country in forging a path of financial development with Chinese characteristics. That path, it says, rests on eight principles: centralized, unified Party leadership over financial work; people-centered values; serving the real economy as the fundamental purpose; treating risk prevention and control as an enduring task; pursuing innovation through market- and law-based means; furthering supply-side structural reform in finance; ensuring both financial openness and security; and pursuing progress while ensuring stability.

Three of the eight are singled out. Party leadership is said to hold overarching importance. Serving the real economy is described as crucial to strengthening the sector's core functions. The balance of openness and security is called an important methodology for building financial strength.

The article closes with an institutional blueprint of six systems: a sound and prudent regulatory system, a well-structured financial market system, a system of institutions built on division of labor and collaboration, a comprehensive and effective supervision system, a diversified and specialized system of products and services, and a self-supporting, risk-resilient, safe, and efficient system of financial infrastructure.

The text contains no data, no independent reporting, and no outside analysis, so its claims about progress cannot be checked from the page itself. What it offers is a statement of intent. The test will be concrete action, such as moves on the yuan's international standing or changes to financial regulation, that shows how these goals are being put into practice.